Monthly Archives: April 2020

Jeanette Halliday

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Jeanette Halliday
Very sad news of the death of Jeanette Halliday on April 17th 2020, after being ill since Christmas.

Jeanette was the Mayor of Abingdon from 1998-9, and continued to serve on Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council until she died. She has been on the Town Council for about twenty years in total, and was the Chair of the planning committee on the current council. Her husband Jim is another long serving and dedicated councillor.

Jeanette was very good at talking to people and taking up their concerns and getting things done. She was independently minded and full of humour.

Many people will remember her as a driving instructor in Abingdon back in the 1980-90s. More recently she ran a holistic therapy clinic.

We will have to wait until the Pandemic restrictions are lifted for a Thanksgiving Service for everybody who knew her. Current rules allow a small private service. Our thoughts are with Jim and her family.

There is a fuller obituary on the Town Council web site at https://abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon-news/abingdon-thames-town-council/councillor-jeanette-halliday

Abingdon Concert Band – Together while apart

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Thankyou to Neil for this …
AbiMeds
Abingdon Concert Band have been finding ways to keep playing during the Coronavirus lockdown. They’ve just put together a video of everyone playing their parts for Do You Hear the People Sing? from Les Miserables which can be found on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/cmyzaXcMTm8.

The band has around 55 players, 29 of which are playing in the video. They are planning to keep doing these videos until lockdown ends to make sure they can all still play when rehearsals start again. They hope you enjoy their first isolation performance.

AbiMeds – Abingdon Community Medicine Delivery

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Thanks to Hester for this …
AbiMeds
AbiMeds are delivering 3 days a week and in the first week did 216 deliveries and had excellent feedback.
AbiMeds
The Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames Cllr Charlie Birks has done some stints.

What is AbiMeds?

AbiMeds is a free community prescription delivery service set up by the AbiMeds Team and volunteers from Abingdon’s Freewheeling cycling group.

Where does AbiMeds deliver?

Volunteers deliver in Abingdon, Culham, Sutton Courtenay, Drayton, Marcham, Shippon, Wootton and Radley.

Who can use AbiMeds?

AbiMeds is for anybody with prescriptions at Boots and Jhoots, not just those shielding, self isolating or supporting vulnerable people. Its main aim is to cut down the queues at pharmacies, reducing the risk of infection to both customers and pharmacy staff. (Avicenna have their own delivery scheme.)

Volunteers and carers who are already helping people with prescriptions may wish to continue, or may prefer to spend less time on this and in the queues, leaving more time for other forms of support.

How to Use AbiMeds – Phone 01865 818351 between 09.00-16.00 any day except Sunday.

Deliveries

Deliveries will be on 3 days in the week –  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

AbiMeds will collect and sort the prescription packages from the pharmacies. They have worked closely with the pharmacies to ensure security of the prescriptions.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE

AbiMeds cannot deal with money: if you pay for your prescriptions, please arrange with your pharmacy to pay in advance. If that is not possible, sadly AbiMeds cannot help you. But they can direct you to other groups who can.

AbiMeds cannot take messages or do call-backs: if you cannot get through, or the phone goes to voicemail, please try again later.

If there are any difficulties with accessing your property, please tell AbiMeds when you ring so that arrangements can be made.

Abbey Grounds

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The Abbey Grounds are a short distance from our house. We often walk through them on the way to somewhere else. Today we made them our walk.
Abbey Grounds
The furthest point we got to was the wooden bridge to Barton Fields. We did not cross that bridge or cross the weir. Instead we meandered back over the grass.
Abbey Grounds
The Abbey Grounds had a nine hole pitch and put course until four years ago. The felt tee areas are still partly in place, and the slope of some of the bunkers, but the bunkers and greens have the same length grass as everywhere else. It is all rough now.
Abbey Grounds
The trees are looking very good. Some in blossom.
Abbey Grounds
Others coming into leaf .
Abbey Grounds
Wild flowers are important now that it is not a golf course. Stars of Bethlehem were growing in one place.

Walking back along Abbey Close we passed two PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) on bikes, and a police car – a reminder that we are permitted walks for exercise during the lockdown. There were not the groups of young people, groups of families, or groups doing exercise, you might normally expect to see on such a sunny day.